Dear Parents, Caregivers, Family and Staff of Tai Tapu School,

On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I would like to thank you all for participating in the recent Board elections.

As you would’ve seen from the recent announcement, I am joined on the Board by fellow trustees: Angela Kleehammer, Daryl Aitken, Iain Haycock, Andrew Bull and Lisa Seeley (Teacher Representative), with Jude Curtis currently working with us in her capacity as Acting Principal. We are all very proud to represent our school and can assure you that we are an energised group, that are looking forward to getting into our work.

I wanted to reassure you that we are working closely with Andrew Murray, Limited Statutory Manager. Andrew retains the responsibility for school employment matters, especially the appointment of the new school Principal. We are very pleased with the professional approach he has been taking and the collaborative way he is working with the Board.

As a new Board, we would like to convey a message of thanks to several people who have served Tai Tapu Primary recently.

Firstly, to the immediate past Board of Trustees including Guy Martin, Tom Fraser and Dave Kearns. Thank you for all the time and effort you have put into our school which has been greatly appreciated.

Although a Board acts as a team, we wanted to acknowledge Guy Martin’s service in particular. Guy was first elected to the Tai Tapu Board in 2014 and acted as Chair since 2016 so has given a great deal of time to the school.

We also wanted to acknowledge recently departed staff Sari Farrant and John Kane.

Sari has been one of our longest serving staff members at Tai Tapu. Sari joined us in 1999 and throughout this time welcomed so many of our children as they started their school life.

Although John was with us for a shorter period of time, we also acknowledge the positive contribution he made to our children’s education.

At our first full meeting this week I was confirmed as Board Chair, Angela Kleehammer as Deputy Chair, and focus areas for the Board were allocated to individual members.

We look forward to keeping you informed about the strategic advances and achievements made by the School as we get further into the year.

School holidays are not far away. Have fun in the cold, stay warm and see you in Term 3!

Nga mihi

Damian Lynch

Chair.